This lovely Black Swallowtail Butterfly has been flying around my deck all day long – especially the parsley. This is a female as she has a band of iridescent blue on her hindwings while males have a band of yellow. See how the lower part of her body is curved in as she lays her eggs? See one of her eggs next to the “c” in cooking in the lower left corner? Smaller than the tip of a sharpened pencil…
Sure enough here are some of the very tiny eggs she laid on my curly parsley. I will be seeing caterpillars soon if the predators, such as spiders, don’t eat them all!
You can visibly see 3 eggs; two are in the middle of the photo on the left and right, and one below the left egg in the photo. She laid each egg in a different part of the parsley.
My curly parsley, thyme, violas, little gem marigolds, nasturtiums and zinnias! I guess if I was a butterfly I would want to lay my eggs here among such pretty flowers and herbs. Lots of good parsley to munch on when they become caterpillars 🙂
I love this post, Judy! What lovely pictures!
Thanks Mary – I was lucky to get such good pictures – they are pretty butterflies!
I hope your summer is going well, Judy!
So pretty! I’ve been a little distrubed by just how few butterflies I have seen this summer. Glad to know it is just where I am and not everywhere.
Thanks Deb – all butterflies have their host plants they like. The swallowtail enjoys not only parsley, but dill, fennel and other tasty herbs!
Amazing! 🙂
Beautiful!
Lovely pictures
Thanks!
Beaituful! And so interesting that she is drawn to the parsley.
Black Swallowtails love parsley, dill and fennel. Earlier in the season they devoured my dill. Parsley is a host plant that the caterpillars will feed on before they go into pupae stage.
Such a beautiful butterfly! Love your flowers:):)
Thank you – the photos came out really clear (most of them) showcasing her beautiful colors.
Ahhhhhh just lovely Judi. Love nature posts and I’m loving how you captured the beautiful butterfly and explained it all step by step. Just wonderful! Thanks for taking us on a nature tour, simply breathtaking! Those flowers sure created a lovely environment for the butterflies to lay their eggs. Well done!
Thanks Loretta – I sit at my computer in the kitchen and can look out onto my deck and see my visitors. She was flying around a lot that day and finally chose her spot to lay her eggs. It was fun to watch and capture in my photos 🙂
Wonderful pictures, lucky you to capture them. Lucky butterfly as well to find a comparatively safe place for her eggs. Thank you for the information on how to tell the males and females apart. I look forward to caterpillar pictures.
Thanks Liz – it’s always amazing to see nature up close! I posted a number of caterpillar pictures in My 2018 Michigan Container Garden. You can also search caterpillars and find last years pictures 🙂
I remember them, beautiful caterpillars. I had some on my parsley a few years ago as well.